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However, I’m in awe of her Friday Finds posts, and am regularly finding odd but interesting nuggets on the internet, so welcome to my Friday mind dump of weird things I’ve found during the week.

Think you know your hurricanes from your hurricane-force winds? The Voice of Young Science’s weather quiz ‘Haven’t the foggiest’ is purely magnificent, and I especially enjoy the punny title…

Is there a building that you walk past everyday and think ‘I wonder what that stone is’ or notice the fossils or beautiful crystals? Well here’s your chance to know more about it with London Pavement Geology

The latest class of NASA astronauts is 50% female!

I spent a lunch break in the new Human Evolution gallery at the Natural History Museum and it’s beautifully done, well worth a visit.

Last week, I attended Stempra’s event about openness to animal research at the Academy of Medical Sciences. It was really interesting finding out how institutions have improved their animal research communications, and what they’ve got planned for the future.

Speakers included:

Wendy Jarrett, CEO of Understanding Animal ResearchCraig Brierley, Head of Research Communications at the University of CambridgeCarmel Turner, Chief Press Officer at the Medical Research CouncilNatasha Martineau, Head of Research Communications at Imperial College London.

Here’s 6 things I learnt about how institutions can be open about animal research :

Communicate to the breadth of the community in your institution

Talk to researchers, staff, and students! Communicate using different mediums, for example include an article about the use of animals in the student newsletter, and state when animals are used in research to encourage conversation.

Or even better- give them a tour, show them around your facilities!

Give your staff confidence to talk about animal research

Talk to technicians, researchers, and provide media training to ensure you have a range of spokespeople who are well trained to answer questions from the media should a situation arise.

Make sure your external communications are up to scratch

Create web pages dedicated to the animal research undertaken in your institution.

State in news articles that the research used animals, tag news articles with ‘animal research’ to find other animal research easily, and include a real photo of the animal if possible.

Don’t forget to mention it at events

Don’t be shy to include activities about animal research at your institution’s events, for example, at ImpFest at Imperial college London had a whole stall around how the University uses animal in research.

Get your facts straight

“Every big medical advance has used animal research, but every big dead end has too!” Wise words from Carmel, be careful what you say in the press, avoid hype!

Read up, sign up!

The Concordat on Openness to Animal Research in the UK was launched in May 2014 and is a voluntary code of practice which sits alongside any legislative requirements, and encourages more transparent communications practices around the use of animals in research. Read more on Understanding Animal Research’s website.

At 16:03 GMT, Earth received a signal confirming that the Philae probe has successfully landed on a moving comet 510 km from Earth.

This extraordinary achievement was preceded by a tense seven hour descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, including confirmation that the thrusters were not active, increasing the risk of the lander bouncing back into outer space.

The Rosetta orbiter relayed the information to Earth and it was picked up by the European Space Agency’s ground station in Malargue, Argentina as well as NASA’s station in Madrid, Spain.

Scientists cheered and embraced each other as the signals were received, then hastily focused once again on their computer screens as news broke that the harpoons to fasten the lander to the comet surface, had not fired. Scientists now think that the probe may have bounced after first coming into contact with the surface.

This spectacular achievement for space technology will give scientists the chance to ride a comet, and study what happens to the comet as it travels closer to the sun.

This is not the first time scientists have sent probes to a comet, but it is the first time a probe has landed.

Matt Taylor, a Rosetta project scientist was so confident the comet land was going to be successful, that he tattooed Philae landing on the comet onto his thigh.

An unmanned Rosetta space probe is attempting to successfully land on comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko, after travelling for over ten years.

Today, at 08.35GMT, the European Space Agency attempted to achieve a first for space exploration, by placing a robot on a moving comet, a mere 510 million km from Earth.

The Rosetta satellite released a spacecraft, the Philae lander, towards Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is a large mass of ice and dust, with the aim of finding out more information about these mysterious relics from the formation of our Solar System.

Following a rough night of many critical decisions, Rosetta and Philae have been cleared for separation. This follows the late night discovery that the active descent system, with the aim of providing thrust to avoid rebound during touchdown, cannot be activated.

Not only is the mission difficult due to the distance the spacecraft has to travel, but there are several obstacles, including a 4km-wide ice mountain, and the risk that Philae could just bounce back into space.

At touchdown, Philae will deploy landing gear, including foot screws and harpoons to attempt to fasten its position, but this will all be more difficult.

The complex descent to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko will take approximately seven hours, and a confirmation of a successful touchdown is expected around 17.02 GMT.

Jean- Pierre Bibring, lead lander scientist said “We’re anxious but excited, it’s not every day that we try to land on a comet.”

Amongst millions of other science nerds, I will be watching the live stream avidly, and I’ll be updating my blog and twitter when more information is released.

For the past two months I have been the Biology Week Intern at the Society of Biology. During Biology Week we held an awards ceremony for the photography competition, science communication awards, book awards and the BioArt Attack competition.

Here is a news article I wrote on 22nd October 2014. It can also be found on the Society of Biology website.

Last week we celebrated the biggest Biology Week yet, with over 100 events and activities all over the UK and beyond. Everyone from children to research scientists got involved in debates, bug hunts, dinosaur digs, and Big Biology Days, in celebration of the life sciences.

On Wednesday we held a Parliamentary Reception at the House of Commons. Greg Clark MP, the newly appointed Minister for Universities, Science and Cities, urged the audience including policy makers, academics and members of the Society of Biology, to “keep faith with the institutions responsible for success and respect the foundations laid down by predecessors”.

Four of our Big Biology Day science festivals took place nationwide during the week. People learnt about geology and medical dilemmas in Cardiff; created their own bacteria and parasites in Glasgow; dissected pellets in Essex and made medicines in Cambridge. Fun scientific activities were organised by organisations including the British Science Association, British Pharmacological society, Biochemical Society and Jeans for Genes.

Our branches ran some great events including: a lecture on Antarctic exploration and Scott’s loyal assistant, Edward Wilson, from the London branch; a look at the unexpected role of plants in drug development from the Thames Valley branch; and insights into equine welfare, from the Northern Ireland branch.

Biology Week was also celebrated in classrooms across the nation, with hundreds of schools completing our quizzes, and using our Biology Week resources. Our spotlight schools: Hereford Cathedral School and Altrincham Girl’s Grammar School organised great programmes of Biology Week activities, including debates, a dissection club and a wildlife photography competition.

Overall, it was a fantastic week of biology celebrations, with researchers, families, and students all getting involved. Take a look at the highlights of Biology Week 2014 on our Facebook or Storify, or read our blog.

The past two months I have been the Biology Week Intern at the Society of Biology. This amazing experience gave me the opportunity to interview Greg Clark, Minister for Universities, Science and Cities at the Biology Week Parliamentary reception in the House of Commons.

I wrote this news article for the Society of Biology, you can also read the article on their website.

“Excellence in the biosciences requires we keep faith with the reputation this country has for science excellence” said Greg Clark MP, yesterday evening at the Biology Week Parliamentary Reception.

The recently appointed Minister for Universities, Science and Cities, urged the audience, including policy makers, academics and members of the Society of Biology, to “keep faith with the institutions responsible for success and respect the foundations laid down by predecessors”.

Clark, speaking to the wider science community for the first time since his appointment, said that the Society of Biology is “in the vanguard of making progress”.

He said, “I am incredibly privileged that I have such a prestigious and expert group of people to advise me and I will follow that advice, I very much look forward to working together through the years ahead.”

The annual Biology Week reception was hosted by Andrew Miller MP, Stephen Metcalfe MP and Dr Julian Huppert MP at the House of Commons, in partnership with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Andrew Miller MP implored scientists to engage with their MP and “make policy makers understand challenges in laboratories and the exciting potential of the science you’re engaged with”.

Melanie Welham, director of science at BBSRC, said “it is really important the BBSRC partners with Society of Biology and other organisations to make sure the potential in biosciences is actually realised”.

After spending months cooped up studying for my final exams, I ventured onto twitter and discovered a whirl wind of excitement surrounding the ‘Longitude Prize 2014’. Science communicators were very excited about this amazing opportunity, so clearly I had to find out why.

The Longitude Prize 2014 Launch.

The Longitude Prize is a challenge to encourage inventors and scientists to find solutions to six key problems facing the world; Dementia, Flight (creating carbon-neutral air travel), Food, Paralysis, Water and Antibiotics.

The prize is a staggering £10 million, and it’s up to the public to vote and decide what topic will get the opportunity to fight for the prize money.

This prize is run and developed by Nesta with the Technology Strategy Board. It was created to commemorate the 300th Anniversary of the real Longitude Prize, which was talking a major problem and aimed to invent a clock which could keep time at sea, and so this year’s Longitude Prize tackles six of the world’s largest problems.

Horizon dedicated a whole show to this great event, and produced a fantastic documentary, describing why each of the topics has been chosen and why they deserve your vote.

Vote online at the BBC Horizon website, or by text (text your topic name to 60011) Join the discussion on twitter #LongitudePrize

Albinism is a defect whereby little or no melanin production results in little or no pigment in the skin, hair and eyes.

Was Noah an albino? I guess we’ll never know! (Noah, 2014)

When doing a quick google of albinism, I found an article by the BBC, which proposed that Noah might have been an albino.

The film Noah is out now in UK cinemas, and Noah is played by Russel Crowe. It’s thought that Noah might have had variant OCA 1 (Occularcutaneous Albinism). OCA 1 is caused by a mutation in the tyrosine gene which converts tyrosine to DOPA (duhydroxy-phenylalanine). DOPA’s then converted to Dopaquinone and finally to melanin.

OCA1 is divided into two main types of mutations; OCA 1A where tyrosine’s absent and there’s no melatonin in skin or eyes, or OCA 1B whereby tyrosinase is greatly diminished but not totally absent, which causes there to be an increase in skin, hair and eye pigment with age, these patients do tan with sun exposure.

The Old Testament portrays Noah, who was ordered by God to build an ark, as having a long white beard. Some people have stated that text from the Dead Sea Scrolls elaborates further. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1946 and 1956 in a cave east of Jerusalem, and are thought to contain the earliest manuscripts of portions of the Hebrew Bible.

Within these scrolls, Noah is described as a child having “the flesh of whish was white as snow, as red as arose; the hair whose head was white like wool, and long; and whose eyes were beautiful2.

The scroll translation originates from an article written by Professor Arnold Sorsby in the British Medical Journal in 1958. Prof Sorsby is an ophthalmologic research professor, and in this article he attempted to find trace back Noah’s family tree to discover the genetic flaw that possibly caused the albinism mutation.

Many people however are thought to believe that the scroll refers to Noah’s angelic-ness rather than albinism.

Whether Noah was or was not an albino, there are mixed reviews on this film. It’s safe to say I won’t be flocking to see it!